GenAI and Digital Inclusion: Application Creativity of GenAI in Marginalized Communities

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has demonstrated considerable creative potential; however, it also intensifies concerns regarding how emerging digital opportunities are utilized in marginalized communities. We frame this issue as a challenge of inclusive information systems (IS) design—one that must reconcile the advancement of GenAI-driven creativity with digital inclusion. Adopting an action design research approach, we conducted a study in a marginalized rural town, where the research team and community members collaboratively developed a mobile tourism application (app) using GenAI tools. Our findings identify three distinct forms of GenAI-driven creativity—imaginative, pragmatic, and realizative—that enable its appropriation within marginalized contexts. These forms capture a dynamic process evolving from idea inspiration to action orientation through which GenAI’s application creativity is activated. By bridging the domains of GenAI creativity and digital inclusion, this study advances an inclusive approach for leveraging GenAI to support more context-sensitive and sustainable development.